


crop circles in the carpet

by celestialbisexual



Category: Archive 81 (Podcast)
Genre: Episode Tag, M/M, Sharing a Bed, the secret tenth season of game of thrones that grrm doesn't want you to know about, this is... unbearably domestic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 00:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18727852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialbisexual/pseuds/celestialbisexual
Summary: “So we’ll have to share…” He’s still smiling, warping the proportions of his not-face. At Nicholas’s blank look, he sighs.“C’mon dude, bed sharing? It’s like the oldest trope in the book. Two characters who have like, mad sexual feelings for each other but are too chicken to admit it have to share a bed, and they spend all night pining and spooning or whatever.”“I see.” Nicholas says, crawling into the bed beside him. “Is this the part where I admit that I have ‘mad sexual feelings’ for you?”





	crop circles in the carpet

The Clerk either doesn’t recognize them or is very good at faking it. Either way, she talks them through the motel’s amenities (pool on the ground floor, breakfast from seven to ten, a mini-fridge that they are under no circumstances to use, understand?) while ignoring their questions with a brusque and efficient ease. 

“Enjoy your stay, hepcats.” She says in a tone of voice that effectively ends all conversation. Nicholas has faced down gods and monsters since he’s first stepped into the arcane world, but he still can’t quite manage this particular brand of awkward social interaction, so he just takes the keys with a quiet, completely ignored, “thank you”, and leads Static Man to their room. 

The lobby had been the same brand of psychedelic Americana as the diner, but the motel room is much more restrained, an impressionist painting of a severed eagle head hanging above the bed the only thing differentiating it from every other motel Nicholas has ever been in. 

Static Man sees the bed and grins his disorienting, toothy grin.

”And there was only one bed.” He intones seriously, flopping down onto it.

“Yes?” 

“So we’ll have to share…” He’s still smiling, warping the proportions of his not-face. At Nicholas’s blank look, he sighs. “C’mon dude, bed sharing? It’s like the oldest trope in the book. Two characters who have like, mad sexual feelings for each other but are too chicken to admit it have to share a bed, and they spend all night pining and spooning or whatever.” 

“I see.” Nicholas says, crawling into the bed beside him. “Is this the part where I admit that I have ‘mad sexual feelings’ for you?”

He’d been going for “breathless sexpot” and had come out somewhere in the register of “asthmatic beagle”, so it’s no surprise when Static Man rolls his… well, he rolls something. “No, that comes later when you wake up in my arms. Or my best approximation of them anyway. And then we’re both overcome by lust, and we do it.”

“Do we?” Nicholas asks, rolling away to plug in his phone. Static Man moves to press against him, a line of sparkling cold all up his back. Nicholas shivers.

“Yep. And it’s mind-shatteringly good. Best sex of your life.” Static Man tells him, teeth scraping against the shell of his ear. It’s tempting, but…

“I believe that the entire purpose of stopping here was to get some rest.” He reminds Static Man, before rising from the bed and pulling out his toiletries and disappearing into the bathroom, ignoring Static Man’s sigh.

The bathroom is reassuringly normal, though not so reassuring that Nicholas is willing to chance the shower. He takes his time getting ready for bed. It’s not that he doesn’t care about Static Man, he does, but he so rarely gets time to himself these days, and he can’t help but grab what time he does have with both hands. 

When he exits, Static Man has found the remote and is through the T.V. channels. It seems to be security footage from various slaughterhouses around the world, and reruns of I Love Lucy. Finally Static Man finds what looks to be the tenth season of Game of Thrones. A group of people sitting around an intricately carved wooden table argue about the price of wheat. Occasionally a dragon can be seen out a window. 

Nicholas lays out his clothes for tomorrow and returns to the bed. His leg’s improved a lot over the months, but sitting for hours hasn’t done him any favors, and he lowers himself down into bed cautiously, trying to head off the expected pain.

“You want me to go back to the car and get your cane?” Static Man asks, flickering concernedly, but Nicholas waves him off.

“I’ll be fine. Thank you, though.” 

“No problem, dude. Let me know if you need anything, okay?” 

“I will.” Nicholas assures him, taking off his glasses and folding them on top of his phone. 

“You’d better.” Static Man sounds reproachful, which is frankly unfair. Honestly, Nicholas collapses in the middle of a ritual one time, and suddenly he can’t be trusted to take care of himself. It’s ridiculous. “Do you mind if I leave the T.V. on for awhile?”

“No. That’s fine. Just keep the volume low?” Nicholas asks, turning off the lamp on the bedside table and settling down under the covers. 

“Of course. Good night, Nicholas. Don’t let the eldritch bedbugs bite.”

Nicholas laughs. “Good night, Static Man.”

**Author's Note:**

> my car runs on twelve parts gas and one part comments. Please help me get my body back.


End file.
